


Sometimes nice, is more than just nice.

by Teapots_and_Teacups



Category: Our Life: Beginnings & Always (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Oblivious reader to start with, Realising Feelings, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28398156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teapots_and_Teacups/pseuds/Teapots_and_Teacups
Summary: You learn that Baxter is more than just friendly to you.
Relationships: Baxter Ward/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Sometimes nice, is more than just nice.

**Author's Note:**

> Fingers crossed I've kept Reader gender neutral!

You sat on your bed, your nice outfit slightly crumpled. You'd been out dancing with Baxter at some party he'd invited you to. It had been fun and you'd enjoyed regaling the evenings events to Cove who'd done his usual and snuck in through your window after he'd seen Baxter drop you off. You'd told stories of Baxter flattering you as he did even on normal days, and of being whirled and twirled around the room. Cove had grinned knowingly at you. When you ran a finger over the corsage Baxter had given you, Cove spoke up.

"You should just admit you like him." He raised his eyebrows at you. "Cause you do."

"What?" You blurted. "No, I don't."

"You just told me about how nice he was all night." Cove said bluntly. "And how it made you feel good about yourself."

"Baxter's nice to everyone."

"This is what? The fourth party he's taken you to this summer?" Cove asked earnestly. He was starting to lose track.

"I dunno." You shrugged. You didn't want to think about it. Baxter said he needed a cute date and that you would do nicely. It never sounded like anything other than Baxter being Baxter. Even if your heart had lept into your throat each time. "He's just… nice." You blushed. Baxter was always over the top with his words, but it made you feel good.

Cove gave you a scathing look.

"But you do like him." He stated simply. "I've known you like… forever. You never accepted Derek's feelings."

"I… never released Derek liked me like that." You admitted. "And anyway, Baxter would invite anyone-"

"He's invited you four times." Cove interjected.

"-because he's nice. He just invited me first?" You offered weakly. Part of you was scared that he asked you because he knew you'd say yes. But you couldn't say no, not when he flattered you and brought you flowers. He'd even rented a nice car this time, better than his normal rental.

"Four. Times." Cove repeated.

"He… I…" You mumbled.

"You _do_ like him." Cove sighed. "We've been friends, what, ten years now?" You nodded. "I think I know when you like someone."

"But he's nice to everyone.."

"You said he bought you flowers?"

"He bought your mum flowers, remember?"

"Ugh don't remind me." Cove groaned. "But that's different."

"How?"

"He didn't leave a trail of roses to the beach." Cove explained. You blushed furiously. "And he didn't have yet more roses waiting at the beach for her to ask her to a party." You looked down at your fingers, picking at the skin around your nails. "Even for him, that's more than friendly." Cove poked you with his toe. "Way more than friendly."

"You think?" You squeaked.

"If he doesn't like you I'll eat my surfboard."

\-----------

You sat leaning back on your chair, waiting for Cove to finish his phone call from his dad. You'd come out to the mall together even though you both had very different goals. Cove's had been the pet store and the food court while you'd done your own thing before meeting back up for the obligatory smoothie that had become a solid habit of any mall trip together. You'd been half way through your own drink, scrolling on your phone when Cove's had rung. You flicked your straw wrapper at him when he hung up with a sigh.

"What's up?" You asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He wants me to come help." Cove said, there was no point hiding it. "He said you're welcome but you'd be stuck in the back."

"You're gonna abandon me here?" You gave him a disbelieving look. It was completely ruined by the grin that tugged at your face. 

"Nope." Cove shot you back a smirk. 

"You know my parents are out all day, right?" You added with a raised eyebrow.

"They are. But you do have someone who will _absolutely_ give you a ride home." Cove's emphasis left no doubt as to who he was talking about. "You _do_ have his number." You looked down at your phone, which you'd left on the table, blushing. 

Sure you did. You'd even texted him, but only about the parties he'd invited you to. You hadn't ever taken him up on his offer to simply drive you around. Something had always stopped you.

"I… uh…" You stammered. The thought of asking Baxter to come pick you up was very different to asking Cove for a ride, you knew that now. You wanted to punch Cove for making that particular revelation come to light. 

"Come on, I'm not gonna leave until you've at least asked him." Cove sighed. At least he wasn't actually going to abandon you. But you were going to make him late to help his dad if you didn't at least send a message.

"Promise you'll come back if he's busy?" You asked with puppy dog eyes, hoping that he wouldn't actually abandon you at the mall.

"Promise." Cove gave you a reassuring smile. You took a deep breath and thumbed out a short message.

< _Got stuck at the mall. Help?_ > You showed Cove the sent message and he made an exasperated noise. Clearly he thought you could have done better. But you had done as he asked. He shoved his own phone back in his pocket finally and downed the last of his smoothie.

"Wait? You're going already?" You panicked. 

"I don't think you're gonna have to wait-" Cove was cut off by your phone vibrating in your hand. "Told you." 

You thumbed open the message, your stomach was doing backflips. Baxter was always nice to you, complementary and even flirty at times you realised. But this was you reaching out to him.

< _Absolutely._ >  
< _I'll be there as soon as I can._ >

You stared at the message in shock. The time stamp wasn't even a minute after you'd sent yours.

"You okay?" Cove asked, concerned at your silence. You showed him the screen. His concern gave way to a soft chuckle. "So I can go now with Prince Charming on the way?"

"I… uh… yeah?" You mumbled, quickly typing another message.

< _thanks_ > You put your phone away, it would take Baxter at least half an hour to get to the mall so you'd have to find something to do while you waited.

"See you tomorrow." Cove grinned, waving as he walked away.

"Bye." You waved back weakly. The last few minutes had drained you more than actually going around the mall had. When Cove disappeared around the corner you started to sip at your smoothie again. It wasn't long before it was gone and you were left trying to find something to do on your own. 

You started to wander the mall again, letting your feet take you wherever they felt like going. 

\----------

< _I'm here._ >

Baxter's message surprised you. It was a good 5 minutes before you'd expected him. In all honesty you'd expected him to be a little bit late because you'd messaged him out of the blue. 

But here he was being early.

You tried to will away the butterflies in your stomach. Maybe Cove was right. 

< _Where?_ > You sent back quickly, stepping off to one side to avoid anyone walking into you while you distracted. Now that you were aware of it, Baxter was fast at replying to you. That did nothing to calm the butterflies, if anything it made them worse.

< _I found a spot near the west entrance._ > You nodded to yourself. That wasn't too far.

< _See you in a bit_ > You sent your reply and were about to put your phone away when it buzzed again. Baxter. Again. 

< _I'll be waiting for you._ > You couldn't help but smile. There had been no need to tell you that, it was obvious he'd wait for you, but he had. Maybe this was what Cove had been talking about. 

You tried not to hurry, but his last message had put a spring in your step that carried you towards the exit a little faster than normal. You stepped outside, leaving the cool of the air conditioning for the balmy warm afternoon air, and started to look around for Baxter's rental. You thought you'd maybe have to walk down a few rows, but no. Baxter hadn't even parked. He was idling right in front of the doors. He waved at you with a soft smile. You ran to the car, sliding into the passenger seat as fast as humanly possible.

"I thought you'd have parked." You admitted, clipping your seatbelt on. 

"And have you potentially walk away from me?" Baxter asked, pulling away from the entrance to make his way back to the road. "I don't think so." It wasn't long before the mall was disappearing behind you. "Now, while I was thrilled to hear from you, I am curious as to how you ended up stranded all alone out here." There was something in Baxter's voice you couldn't place.

"Cove had to leave?" You offered trying to gauge his reaction.

"Your partner in crime abandoned you?" Baxter chuckled. "Interesting." There was a pause for a moment as his grip on the steering wheel relaxed slightly.

"Thank you though. You didn't have to rush out here." You smiled softly. You really were glad he'd come to the rescue. Just like he said he would.

"And leave you waiting? How could I do that." He glanced over to smile at you. "And now it gives me the perfect opportunity to ask if you have plans for the rest of the day."

"You wanna do something?" You asked.

"We are already out." Baxter chuckled. "But if you merely need a ride home then we can simply enjoy the drive." You frowned to yourself. You didn't really want to go home yet, it was still early in the afternoon.

"Oh! We could go get crepes!" You exclaimed. "You missed out last time. They were really good."

"Is that what you had on your walk out of town that day?"

"They were amazing." You beamed at him.

"I'd be glad for the chance to try one." Baxter smiled back at you, pleased with your suggestion. "Very well then, you shall have to be my navigator. I'm not sure I could get there without you." You blushed at his earnest comment. 

"I hope I don't disappoint." You looked over at him, glad that driving was taking most of his attention. You hadn't expected him to glance over, a slight tinge of pink across his face.

"That would be quite impossible." He said softly. 

You quickly diverted your attention to your phone, pulling up the address of the crepe place after a few mistypes. You doubted that you'd been able to hide your now red cheeks, a gentle chuckle from Baxter told you as much, but it was stopping you from flinging yourself from the car out of embarrassment. How on earth had you mistaken such brazen comments as him simply being nice?

"We've got a while yet, you can stay on this road." You said, trying to sound as normal as possible. You weren't entirely sure you had succeeded.

"Wonderful." The conversation had come to a natural enough end, but you chewed the inside of your mouth as you stared out the window. 

A realisation hit you like a wave. There was no effort on Baxter's part to include anyone else in this impromptu adventure. When you hung out with Cove half the time you ended up with one of you inviting someone else to tag along. 

Baxter wanted to spend time with just you.

You felt your cheeks start to burn. You were such an idiot. And you'd never even invited him to do anything. 

"Baxter?" You asked.

"Yes?"

"You wanna go to the beach after we get crepes?" You asked nervously. "You know, keep hanging out. Just us."

"Absolutely. I can think of no better way to spend the rest of the day." There was a twinkle in his eye that made you feel like a million dollars.

You couldn't help but smile as Baxter started to hum softly to himself, apparently pleased with how the day was turning out.

\---------- 

The beach had turned into the shopping street and then into an impromptu dinner on the beachfront. Simple, local food, elevated to new heights by the fact that you were here with Baxter. 

"That was a darling little place." Baxter smiled, escorting you back down the shopping street. 

"It was only _darling_ because you were there." You teased gently, giving him a side hug. The whole afternoon had boosted your confidence more than just a little. Baxter had responded eagerly to the slightest flirtation. He returned the side hug, giving your shoulder a gentle squeeze before letting his arm drop away. 

"You must let me take you there again. I insist, darling." Baxter said fondly. There was no trace of teasing in his voice at all. You blushed hard, trying not to let it overwhelm you.

"Okay." You said quietly, letting the back of your hand brush against his.Your skin tingled where it touched his. "I'd like that." You weren't sure what you were doing. Baxter had held your hands within the context of dancing before. There was no need to be nervous about holding his hand walking down the street. Except that it meant something different now. You wanted to hold his hand, you did. 

You really did. 

You didn't see Baxter glance from your red face to your hand grazing against his. Nor the smile that grew on his face.

"So." He broke the silence. He laced his fingers with yours and gave your hand a reassuring squeeze. "Where to next my dear?"

**Author's Note:**

> Never written Baxter before and while he was fun he was also... a little difficult to balance.  
> Sassy Best Friend Cove sprung to life on his own and I am *here* for it.


End file.
